US-CANADA TALKS TO RESUME DESPITE LEAKED TRUMP QUOTES
US president had stoked the flames with car tariff hints but Nafta deal still on the table
The US and Canada were unable to reach a deal to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement on Friday – the informal deadline for negotiations given by Donald Trump – and talks will resume this week, despite secret inflammatory remarks from the American leader about the neighbouring country.
“Today the president notified Congress of his intent to sign a trade agreement with Mexico – and Canada, if it is willing – 90 days from now,” said the US trade representative Robert Lighthizer.
Last week the US government and Mexico agreed on a preliminary bilateral deal that overrides the previous trilateral agreement that governs $1 trillion of trade between the US, Mexico and Canada.
The deal between Mexico and the US implements changes to the 24-year-old Nafta in terms of cars, intellectual property, labour, digital trade and manufacturing. Washington has pledged to continue without Canada if a deal cannot be reached.
Nafta’s future has been in doubt ever since Mr Trump took office, as he pledged during his electoral campaign to either renegotiate or scrap it. It is one of three trade issues on which the American leader’s protectionist stance is threatening the future of trade relations, with implications for the global economy. The others are the US-China tariff war, which has led to the imposition of steep duties on imports from each country, and increasingly uncertain trade relations between the US and European Union.
“Over the next few weeks, Congress and cleared advisers from civil society and the private sector will be able to examine the agreement.
“They will find it has huge benefits for our workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses,” said Mr Lighthizer. American unions have not fully endorsed the agreement with Mexico.
Although Mr Lighthizer said year-long talks with Ottawa have been “constructive” and officials are set to meet Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland on Wednesday, Canada’s Toronto Star published off-the-record comments with Mr Trump telling Bloomberg he is not making any compromises with Canada and that he could not say this publicly because “it’s going to be so insulting they’re not going to be able to make a deal”.
Bloomberg agreed to Mr Trump’s request to keep the comments off the record. But the Star said it obtained the quotes from a source and is not bound by any promises Bloomberg made to the president.
It published the quotes after they became part of the critical negotiations, it wrote. Mr Trump then corroborated the quotes in a tweet on Friday evening.
In another off-the-record comment Mr Trump said that any deal with Canada would be “totally on our terms”, according to the Star. He hinted at plans to impose tariffs on imports of Canadian-made cars if Canada refused to comply with his terms.
“Off the record ... every time we have a problem with a point, I just put up a picture of a Chevrolet Impala,” he said. The car is produced at General Motors Ontario plant.
Mr Trump’s comments have been viewed by Canadian negotiators as evidence that the US has not made a legitimate effort to compromise during the year-long talks.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s officials reportedly confronted President Trump’s officials with the leaked quotes at a meeting on Friday morning. Negotiations with Canada ended dramatically on Friday morning after the secret comments made by Mr Trump were leaked to the media on Thursday.
The president notified Congress of his intent to sign a trade agreement with Mexico – and Canada, if it is willing ROBERT LIGHTHIZER US trade representative